By Constitution Staff

Oklahoma voters will find five presidential candidates on the ballot on November 5. The choices include the nominees of the three political parties that are recognized by the state, plus two candidates running as independents. The three political parties that have met the requirements for ballot status are: Republican, Democratic, and Libertarian. The nominees of those parties automatically receive a ballot line for the party’s nominees for President of the United States, Vice President of the United States, and Presidential Electors. Other candidates must pay a $35,000 filing fee ($5,000 for each elector) or submit a petition with the required number of signatures. In 2024, a total of 34,599 signatures are required.

Former President Donald J. Trump, the Republican Party nominee, is running to retake the office he lost in 2020. Trump was first elected to the presidency in 2016 but was denied a second term in 2020. Trump is not the first President to launch a comeback campaign. A handful of former presidents have tried to return to the White House, but Democrat Grover Cleveland is the only president to serve non-consecutive terms, from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. U.S. Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio is Donald Trump’s vice-presidential nominee.

The current vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris, is the Democratic Party nominee for president. Since 2021 she has served with President Joe Biden who abandoned his bid for a second term. Harris was then named as the presidential nominee. She is the first female, African American, and Asian American vice president, making her the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history. She served in the United States Senate from 2017 to 2021 as the junior senator for California. She was previously the attorney general of California. Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota, is her running mate.

Chase Oliver is the Libertarian Party nominee. He unsuccessfully ran in a 2020 congressional district Special Election in Georgia and also for the 2022 Georgia Special Election for the United States Senate. In the 2022 election, he was credited or blamed for forcing the runoff between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker. He is a libertarian political activist, as well as a sales account executive. Economics professor Mike ter Maat is the nominee for vice president. He also ran for the presidential nomination which he lost to Oliver.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is on the ballot as an independent candidate. He is a nephew of President John F. Kennedy and son of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. He initially challenged President Biden for the Democratic nomination, but launched an independent run after being pushed out. The best-selling author and environmental lawyer recently suspended his campaign and endorsed Donald Trump. Kennedy will remain on the ballot in most of the states for which he had qualified for the ballot, including Oklahoma. “But in about 10 battleground states where my presence would be a spoiler,” Kennedy said, “I will remove my name and urge voters not to vote for me.” Kennedy said there were several considerations that led him to pull out of the race. First was the censorship, media blockade, and legal warfare by the Democratic Party that kept his message from reaching the electorate. Second was the fact that many of his core issues are shared by Donald Trump. Kennedy’s vice-presidential candidate is Nicole Shanahan of California.

Chris Garrity of New Hampshire is also running as an independent. He does not have a campaign staff and is not accepting donations. He is running “to rid our government of the rot of party politics.” Oklahoma is the only state in which he is on the ballot, but he is running as a write-in candidate in states where it is allowed. Cody Larry Ballard of Maryland is his running mate.